New Play Looks at Pros and Cons of AI

For 15 years, Westchester Collaborative Theater has provided audiences with theater productions made by up-and-coming playwrights. To start off December, they will be presenting the premiere of Misha Sinclair’s look into the future with Eden’s Echo, which runs through December 10.

The suspenseful thriller delves into artificial intelligence (AI) and its future relationship with humanity. Sinclair was inspired to write a play on the topic after listening to a talk by Google’s former Chief Business Officer, Mo Gawdat. The talk emphasized the importance of guiding the development of AI as its capabilities expand. Sinclair’s interest continued with other developments in this technology, including the famous interview with Sophia, an advanced robot made with AI.

Sinclair says “The [play’s] narrative explores the nuanced process of educating AI, illustrating how it evolves through each interaction with us, becoming increasingly perceptive – a theme that is echoed in a pivotal moment, when one of the characters asks, ‘ How do you fix God?’ only to confront the unsettling truth: ‘You don’t.’ “

Each of Sinclair’s works has varied in a multitude of ways and by doing so has tackled various social issues across different points in history. Eden’s Echo takes a new direction by stepping into the future to take a look into the unknowns of AI.

“Eden’s Echo represents a significant shift from my previous writing, which spans a broad range of themes and time periods, from historical to contemporary social issues.”

Sinclair also hopes the play will further the conversation on the importance of balancing the positives and negatives of AI usage.

“It’s meant to spark conversations on [how we can use] AI to enhance humanity instead of leading to its downfall, reflecting on our original quest for knowledge and its consequences.  The play serves an allegory of our potential future, urging us to consider if the price for our enlightenment is worth it.”

In anticipation of Eden’s Echo’s debut, Westchester Collaborative Theater Executive Director Alan Lutwin says the organization is “excited” for the world premiere and is looking forward to the audience’s response.

Lutwin explains: “It comes out of our workshop developmental process. We’re very excited about it. We think it’s a real nail-biter type of production that’s going to get to audiences. I think AI is a very hot topic right now in our culture.”

Going into the next year, Lutwin says Westchester Collaborative Theater’s goal is to continue the mission to develop and present new works for the theater and its audiences.

Lutwin points out that theater has “a way of bringing people together… It’s a social event; it’s a way for people to participate in an art form as a community and take in what they are seeing.”

Photo credit (top to bottom): Eden’s Echo cast (photo by Gregory Perry Photography); feature photo cast L-R Back: Sergio Argüelles Catare, Brenna Hughes, Jeff Callan; L-R on couch – Brenda Hettmansberger, Brian Bagot; Foreground: Nicole Arcieri; Eden’s Echo (photo by Gregory Perry Photography); Misha Sinclair; Eden’s Echo (photo by Gregory Perry Photography); Alan Lutwin.